The Emerging Functions of Long Noncoding RNA in Immune Cells: Autoimmune Diseases

Figure 1

Classification and characterization of lncRNAs are based on their genomic localization with respect to the neighboring protein-coding gene. It is classified as overlapping lncRNAs including (a) natural antisense transcripts, or (b) intronic LncRNA and non-overlapping, (c) intergenic lncRNA; (lincRNAs), are transcribed from regions far away from protein-coding genes. The direction of arrow represents the different forms of transcription. Antisense lncRNA contains section of complementary sequences with the mature, spliced mRNA of the overlapping protein-coding gene. Intronic lncRNAs are transcribed within the intron of a protein-coding gene and therefore do not contain sequences complementary to the mature, spliced mRNA of the protein-coding gene [32].

(a) Antisense (NATS)

(b) Intronic incRNA

(c) Long intergenic incRNA (lincRNA)